War Prize
by jessara40k
Summary: When Sephiroth's discomfort start affecting Cloud's training his tutor takes the time to find out what's going on with Sephiroth and explains a few thing to him. Cetra Restoration AU.


Sephiroth looked upset about something - he'd been acting odd for the last few weeks - and since it was starting to affect _Cloud's_ attitude and Cid obviously hadn't noticed Morgan decided to see if he could get the consort sorted out. It probably wasn't anything really serious, not when he was taken care of so well, but it had to seem important to Sephiroth if he'd been moping about it for over a month.

"Cloud, you aren't concentrating on this, and you aren't _going_ to concentrate while Sephiroth's here watching us, are you?"

"You _aren't_ going to send him away." Morgan felt himself snap to attention at the command in Cloud's voice, even though he was too young to actually use any of his power. Still, he couldn't let Cloud's leadership potential interfere with his own ability to teach him, or allow his authority to be undermined.

"No, I'm sending you away. Go talk to Aeris or something, just get your head on _straight_. I think I need to have a word with Sephiroth." From the way Cloud stiffened and shifted his stance Morgan realised that the boy had misinterpreted his words, but he had to approve of how willing Cloud was to protect his promised consort. "I'm not going to hurt him. I'll even try not to scare him, but you know how he's been for the last month or so and it's starting to affect you now. Now go." Cloud still looked mutinous, but he glanced over at Sephiroth, and Morgan was pleased to see that he trusted his consort's judgement enough to leave when Sephiroth nodded his acceptance.

"Come on Sephiroth, I don't think you want to do this here." Whatever was bothering Sephiroth so much wouldn't be something he'd want to talk about so publically; not when there were half a dozen of Cloud's guard training around them. But something flickered behind Sephiroth's eyes as he looked around, making a swift assessment of just _who_ was in hearing range before agreeing.

"No, I suppose I don't." Sephiroth stood as he spoke, and was that a hint of fear in his body language? Or maybe resentment, to match his next words. "I see that I'm only worth helping when my problems start to affect Cloud."

"I thought you'd find someone to talk to about whatever it is, and assumed you could handle this yourself. Since you obviously can't..." He led Sephiroth to his office as he spoke.

"I don't want to worry Aeris, talking to Cloud would have been a really bad idea, I don't trust Isis, and Cid...I think this is a Cetra thing, I _hope_ it is anyway."

"Hmmm?" Morgan didn't know Sephiroth as well as he should; Cloud had declared a soul resonance with him, and it had to have been confirmed, or there was no way Sephiroth would have been promised as Cloud's consort at age six. Still, this was actually starting to sound interesting, what could be specifically 'a Cetra thing' and upset Sephiroth this way?

"No, not here, not until we get to..._where_ are you taking me?" Sephiroth balked, and Morgan had to pause himself, turning to answer Sephiroth, knowing that the consort was cautious enough to refuse to continue if he _didn't_.

"My office...will that be private enough for you?"

"I...yes." But Sephiroth looked a bit wild around the eyes as he responded, and Morgan wondered if the consort was scared of small places, or if this was just bothering him so much. He didn't rate anything more than a pretty small office though, and he couldn't really think of anywhere else that Sephiroth would be remotely comfortable and he could guarantee some privacy. He resisted the urge to keep speaking, to reassure Sephiroth and try to talk him down, and simply started moving again, trusting that Sephiroth would follow him.

"Cloud's too _young_. He's only twelve." Morgan hadn't needed to prompt Sephiroth to speak once he'd closed his office door behind them, but his complaint didn't make much sense.

"Too young for what? And it's only a month until his thirteenth birthday." What would make Sephiroth feel safest, most comfortable talking and hopefully help Morgan _fix_ what was wrong with him? First, he took off his weapons, all of them, racking them away out of easy reach, watching Sephiroth relax without looking directly at him. Sitting behind his desk would put a barrier between them, but emphasise that this was _Morgan's_ territory, not Sephiroth's; telling Sephiroth to sit down might well make him feel as if Morgan was trying to intimidate him, especially if Morgan stayed standing, but leaving Sephiroth standing while he sat would imply disrespect. But there was only one chair in his office besides the one behind his desk - he didn't have _room_ for any other chairs. "And please, sit down if you want." Morgan sat on the floor himself, folding his legs to a half lotus position that would make it hard for him to stand in a hurry.

"Too young for me to be thinking about having sex with him, to be dreaming about him fucking me. I don't even really know how that would work, except a few vague ideas but I'm _still_ dreaming about it." There was an edge of panic in Sephiroth's voice as he finished, but he seemed to pull himself back a bit, reaching down to grip the back of a chair before slowly sitting down, watching Morgan with something uncomfortably close to pleading in his eyes. "And now you say I'm upsetting him because I'm trying to control my urges, to resist the temptation to offer myself to him? Why am I thinking like this?"

"Cloud loves you; he doesn't like it when you're upset, that's normal." But what Sephiroth was describing...it sounded like some of the old stories, and it didn't really make that much sense...he'd heard that Sephiroth had helped Cloud in bringing the Restoration from the start. But...Sephiroth _was_ a fighter, and Morgan had never seen him do more than practise his forms alone, never seen him sparring, or even defend himself except by avoidance. "I...might have an idea about why you're feeling this way. Did...the healers go into your mind and...alter how you thought at any point?"

"Yes, they did. That's why I...can't fight, not really." He sounded as ashamed of that as any warrior caste would be, and it explained how very wary he was all the time. "They said that I'd be able to fight, or spar at least, if Cloud gave me permission, but...I never knew how to ask."

"I'll do that, tell him he needs to talk to you about what you need to be able to get back into fighting condition, and what will help keep you safe." He kept his voice rough but level only by an act of will, angry at himself for never seeing this before, angry at _Cloud_ for neglecting his promised consort like this, even if he was too young to really see Sephiroth's needs. "I hadn't realised before that you were treated like a war prize; that the Triumvirate or the Councils acted as if you'd been Cloud's enemy at one point, captured and claimed to become his."

"I...almost understand what you mean, but...is this, what being a war prize means, written down anywhere? And...are you saying that's why I'm already thinking about sex with Cloud, because of something else they did to me when they agreed that I could be his consort?"

"I don't know if it's written down anywhere, although I think some Cetra have published books of our history and customs. And yes, that would probably be why you're imagining sex with him - do you think you'd _want_ to have sex with Cloud when he turns sixteen if you hadn't already started dreaming about him?"

"No...I guess not. I'd still see him as a child; at least I think I would." Sephiroth wrapped his arms around his body, shivering as he spoke. Morgan _wanted_ to hug him, comfort him, but he didn't know how, didn't think he could do that without scaring him. "It would hurt Cloud if I rejected him, but why am I dreaming about him _now_? Why didn't the dreams wait until he was fourteen or fifteen to start?"

"I don't know...I wish I did." Because the idea of Sephiroth wanting Cloud to fuck him already _was_ rather disturbing. "I don't have any experience with how war prizes are altered mentally. I mean I know that war prizes and how they react when they lose their noble is the reason consorts are responsible for raising their noble's children, because that's the only thing that keeps a war prize from killing himself when the focus of his life dies, if his noble's left children who still need him to take care of them."

"Oh...does that mean that once it was more common for consorts to have been conditioned like that than for them not to have been? That sounds odd; I mean it took eleven Cetra to put these compulsions into my head."

"I suppose it must have been more common back before the Planet started to Choose our leaders." It wasn't something Morgan had thought about before. "And I think you were tougher than most are, mentally speaking."

"So they don't normally need that many healer caste to set the compulsions, I see. Thank you." Sephiroth ducked his head, blushing as he spoke. "I won't take up any more of your time."

"Do you think you'll be okay with Cloud from now on?" Morgan began getting to his feet slowly, following Sephiroth's example.

"Yes, now that I sort of know _why_ I'm thinking that sort of thing I think I can handle it." Sephiroth offered a shaky smile before walking out of Morgan's office.


End file.
